Fiber to fiber and fiber to waveguide linking devices that have been described in the art tend to focus on a substantial length of fiber placed for linkage to another fiber or to a planar waveguide. Prior art connectors and splicing devices typically do not meet the increased demand for minimizing on-line manufacturing time or part replacement/repair time to meet the overall cost requirements for optical communications equipment, particularly in high volume production operations. With the tremendous need for increasing bandwidth, a need exists in the art for increased precision in such linkages and for modifying or eliminating rate-limiting steps in component manufacturing. The increase in overall demand for high quality optical components at modest cost has intensified the importance of achieving high quality consistently and efficiently.
Fiber modification techniques disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,477, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Improved Fiber Optic Light Management,” filed Mar. 13, 1997, address these challenges. However, the increased capability of separating wavelengths made possible by these advances has further increased the need for precision in other aspects of manufacturing optical assemblies. Cirrex U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/318,451, entitled, “Optical Assembly with High Performance Filter,” filed May 25, 1999, (incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) describes various modifications to fibers. Cirrex U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/213,983 entitled, “Micro Identifier System and Components for Optical Assemblies,” filed Jun. 24, 2000 (also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) describes a system having an identifying mechanism for high performance waveguides that is machine-readable (especially, by optical means, for example, using a laser interference pattern) for quick and accurate recall of information included in the identifying mechanism. Many of the individual components of such optical assemblies are extremely small and technically complex. Differences between component assembly pieces or even differences within individual pieces are difficult to discern. The '983 patent application describes how etching or engraving, for example, of a cladding surface can provide precise and detailed product information, including: the manufacturer, the core and cladding dimensions, compositions, indices of refraction, and other imprinting. Internal identifiers of that type can also be utilized for system integrity/uniformity checks for quality assurance.
Additional details may be important for other types of optical fibers. For example, the end face of one fiber may be intentionally angled so that its face is not uniformly perpendicular to its axis and the axis of a waveguide with which it is to be mated. (See Cirrex U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/578,777, entitled, “Method and System for Increasing a Number of Information Channels Carried by Optical Waveguides,” which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.) For a very slight angle, it may be critical to have the end face precisely oriented as it mates with the waveguide. The extent to which the fiber core is off-center or elliptical may also be included in the identifier. The identifier on the fiber and the waveguide provides sufficient information for the mating to be precise.
One advantage of using the peripheral surface of a fiber end face for the identifier is relative space availability. The entire periphery of the end face could be utilized if information space and image clarity are required. Similarly, the probability of that area causing fiber function limitations is low and could be reduced further, for example, by covering disrupted (etched/engraved) surface areas with material that would restore transparency to wavelengths negatively affected without detrimentally affecting the readability of the image. Such factors play a role in determining which identifier process, marking and location to utilize. It also may be critical to high volume production for the information to be read significantly in advance of the mating operation and in some cases even by a different manufacturer. Each improvement in one area exposes additional challenges for the manufacturing processes in other areas, for example, in assuring appropriate, precise fiber to fiber, or fiber to waveguide mating.